“… the Achilles heel of American higher education is student debt, now close to a shocking $1.3 trillion. Given the size of this amount, it would be unwise for the next administration to try to play down the problem or postpone dealing with it …”

The internationalisation of higher education is a key driver of innovation and is seen as indispensable for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals spearheaded by the United Nations. However, forging successful, equal and sustainable partnerships to realise these goals in the context of historical injustices and global structural inequality calls for a careful approach.

Agreements such as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership between the economies of the European Union and the United States pose “significant risks to public education… and could have the effect of locking in and intensifying the pressures of privatisation and commercialisation”, European trade unionists warn.

Opposition is mounting to the government’s attempts to take greater political control of universities, reportedly by allowing the minister of higher education and science to decide who should be chair of each university’s board.

Thirty-five university rectors, including the rectors of the major universities – Lund, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Uppsala, Chalmers University of Technology and the Karolinska Institute – as well as the Swedish National Union of Students have criticised the government for a decision which sets aside the principle of autonomy for universities.

A dozen United States universities operating in China in partnership with Chinese institutions say they enjoy academic freedom, but the majority face internet censorship and other restrictions, a just-released report by the US Government Accountability Office has found.

The use of surveillance cameras in university classrooms is spreading in China, and although some university officials say they are only being used to monitor teaching quality, students are expressing concerns over lack of privacy, and lawyers say they could violate the constitutional rights of university teachers and fear their purpose is to enforce compliance with official ideology.